The present invention relates to garments which can be worn during gardening activities and other activities. The garments include a shirt and an apron.
Protective aprons are well known in the art. They have been used in many different environments to protect a wearer""s clothing. Known apron-type garments include painting aprons, mechanic""s aprons, fishing aprons, and home keeper aprons. The patent literature illustrates many different types of aprons. For example, U.S. Design Pat. No. 133,954 to Siegle illustrates a mechanic""s apron and U.S. Design Pat. No. 257,596 to Rosenbloom III illustrates a work apron. Both aprons include a plurality of pockets for storing items.
U.S. Pat. No. 431,332 to Chadwick illustrates an apron to be worn by either children or adults. The apron consists of a body adapted to cover the front of a garment combined with tubular sleeve protectors permanently connected by straps to the respective shoulders of the apron.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,675,072 to Watermon illustrates a surveyor""s apron designed to be attached to a body supporting belt and adapted to have a series of pockets secured thereto for the purpose of carrying tools and small articles that are used by those engaged in the trade. The apron has a spring reel secured thereto having a winding cord attached to a plumb-bob and a holder for the plumb-bob.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,538,677 to Ferrand illustrates an article holding apron for stream fishermen. The apron includes a plurality of pockets having closure flaps that receive fishing articles such as lures, plugs, hooks, sinkers, and the like. The apron further includes harness means so that it is adaptable to fit persons of various sizes and may be adjusted to fit high on a user""s chest to prevent engagement of water therewith when the user is stream fishing.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,428,962 to Slimovitz illustrates a barbecue apron having pockets and VELCRO strips for securing mittens to the apron.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,535,709 to Johannes illustrates a painter""s apron comprising a generally planar panel of paint-impervious material adapted to overlie the front of the user""s torso, means for securing the panel in position, an upwardly opening paint reservoir extending the full width of the panel and having its upper rearward edge secured to the lower edge of the panel, and resilient paint brush retaining means attached to the forward surface of the panel above the reservoir and operable to support a paint brush releasably with its handle uppermost.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,624,686 to Beals relates to a pocket apron for teaching color recognition. The apron has strips of attachment material thereon with cooperating strips of pressure sensitive material on the backside of a multitude of pockets for removable attachment to the apron body. The pockets are of various colors for the teaching of color recognition.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,977,626 to Smith relates to an apron like garment having a pocket dispenser formed by two overlaid panels, one of which is partially detachable.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,107,545 to Potter relates to a fisherman""s fly tying apron which includes an upper section having means for attaching the apron to a user, a lower section detachable from the upper section, a waste collecting means associated with the lower section, and a stiffening means associated with either the lower section or the waste collecting means.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,391 to Williamson relates to a painting apron with an onboard paint supply. The apron has a protective sheet of flexible, paint-impervious material to which a mounting arrangement is secured. The mounting arrangement includes an expandable loop which releasably receives a paint container including a cup portion and a removable lid portion which is tethered to the cup portion. The apron is secured to the wearer via a strap arrangement including one or more elongate straps which extend from the protective sheet.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,024,361 to Flowers illustrates a supply caddy having a main body portion defining a pocket which is selectively subdivided by vertical and horizontal strips which are repositionable within the pocket. The caddy may be attached to a wearer by a strap.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,637,075 to Ingrisano et al. illustrates a vest garment to be worn by emergency medical services personnel. The garment includes a number of pockets and clips for carrying emergency medical supplies and equipment.
Various gardening garments are also known in the prior art. U.S. Design Pat. No. 399,336 to DeFino illustrates one such garment. U.S. Pat. No. 4,831,666 to Denman illustrates a pants garment adapted to provide protection to a person""s knees while performing gardening tasks. The garment has a pair of legs and a pocket affixed to the exterior of each leg. A padded cushioning member is substantially fixedly held in each pocket.
Despite the existence of these aprons and garments, there remains a need for practical and useful garments to be worn during gardening and other activities.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a garment to be worn by a user during activities which may require the user to assume a kneeling position.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a garment as above which is provided with pockets and other devices for holding tools, materials, and other implements.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a garment as above which may be worn during gardening activities.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a garment as above which may be readily cleaned and reused.
The foregoing objects are met by the garments of the present invention.
In accordance with the present invention, a garment broadly comprises a protective panel to be worn in the front of a user, means for protecting a user""s knees secured to the protective panel, and means for holding implements which may be used by the user secured to the protective panel. In several embodiments of the present invention, the garment takes the form of a gardening apron. In other embodiments of the present invention, the garment takes the form of a gardening shirt.
Other details of the gardening garments of the present invention, as well as other objects and advantages attendant thereto, are set forth in the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings wherein like reference numerals depict like elements.